Monthly Archives: October 2011

Today’s Indian Grand Prix saw the latest spat between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa – both on and off track.

The pair collided while racing for 6th position, leaving Felipe with a drive-through penalty and Lewis with a broken front wing. Hamilton has borne the brunt of blame for most of their collisions this year, most notably in Monaco.

However, this time the McLaren driver is not 100% at fault, as both drivers made poor judgement:

Felipe Massa

Replays showed the Ferrari driver checking his mirrors several times, so there is no doubt that he was aware that Hamilton was closing in. The fact that Felipe continued to turn in was more than likely an estimation that the McLaren wouldn’t attempt a pass – a poor decision considering who he was racing against.

Massa was dealt the drive-through for the incident, but protested his innocence afterwards:

"I simply stayed on the ideal line, braking on the limit and staying on the part of
the track that was rubbered in. What else could I do?
It’s the umpteenth time that Hamilton runs into me this year and it seems it’s some
sort of fatal attraction. In the past, I tried to talk to him but he did not seem to
be interested in doing so."

The Ferrari team have also suggested that the collision contributed towards Felipe’s suspension failure, which is of course absolute rubbish.

Lewis Hamilton

Never the one to stay out of trouble, Lewis is back in the headlines for the wrong reasons once again.

After being docked three places on the grid for ignoring yellow flags on Friday, Hamilton’s weekend was already compromised. The collision with Massa came after a very poor first stint, where the McLaren driver failed to make any progress from 7th.

It was a slightly ambitious move that presumed that Massa would give him space – which of course he didn’t. Lewis will of course argue that he had every right to move up the inside and attempt a pass, which is true. However, he failed to place his car in between Massa and the kerb, backing off slightly as the two cars entered the corner. This resulted in the Ferrari cutting across Lewis and causing the crash.

The most interesting thing I found about the crash was Hamilton’s reaction immediately afterwards. After he gestured towards the Ferrari, he continued to slow for several seconds before he got back on the throttle. To me, it seemed as if he didn’t even care about the race for a while, being incredibly frustrated after this many accidents.

In my opinion…

While Lewis could have judged his move better, I feel that Felipe gave him absolutely no opportunity to make a move. Hamilton has been lambasted for his off-form driving this year – and rightly so – but this incident should not be blamed on the Brit.

The more I look into these past collisions,the more childish Massa appears to me. While it is understandable that a driver would be furious after a collision, it is immature to say that they “don’t care” about what the other driver feels about the incident (referring to minor tap by Hamilton in Suzuka).

However, the most important thing out of this is that it doesn’t turn into a juvenile clash-fest every single race. These drivers should realise that F1 is supposed to be the collection of the finest racing drivers in the world, and should at least attempt to resolve their conflict. Not that many see that happening, of course.

Sebastian Vettel took another commanding victory today at the Indian Grand Prix. The German held a constant lead to Jenson Button in second, while Fernando Alonso was 3rd after battling past Mark Webber. Lewis Hamilton collided for the fifth time this year with Felipe Massa, the Ferrari suffering an absolutely torrid race. Here is what happened:

At the start, Rubens Barrichello and Jarno Trulli were damaged in seperate incidents, while Jenson Button got past Mark Webber on the main straight. Lewis Hamilton dropped to 6th, while Sergio Perez pitted after the first lap for a surprisingly sudden tyre change.

Rubens Barrichello punts the back of his teammate

Despite multiple accidents, only Kamui Kobayashi retired. After a few laps, all of the drivers who started on primes had already switched to the soft compound.

Webber attempted to pass Button, but not even DRS on the main straight could get the Red Bull through – and Jenson’s good defensive driving wasn’t helping either. While the pair squabbled over 2nd, Vettel extended his lead to over 4 seconds.

Jaime Alguersuari moved past Bruno Senna to take 10th place. A KERS failure was revealed to be the issue with the Renault’s car, as Bruno was instructed to enter “recovery mode”.

Button soon shook off Webber’s assault, and began to chip into Vettel’s lead. Pastor Maldonado became the latest car to drop out with a drive issue, as Alguersuari passed Adrian Sutil for 9th.

Webber, Alonso and Hamilton all pitted on Lap 17, all taking on the soft tyres. Soon afterwards, Michael Schumacher passed Alonso after the Ferrari exited the pits. After Sebastian responded to Jenson’s increased pace, the McLaren pitted, with Vettel following him in a lap later.

Massa clashes with Hamilton yet again

After a very poor first stint, Lewis Hamilton finally got on the pace, and began to challenge Felipe Massa for 5th place. After getting close to the Ferrari on the main straight, the McLaren got up the inside, but clashed with Massa, in a severe case of deja vu. Hamilton pitted while Massa stayed out in 5th, but seemed to struggle with the handling of his car.

The stewards decided that Felipe had turned into Lewis, and so the Ferrari was dealt a drive-through penalty, emerging in 7th position. Massa pitted a lap later, replacing the front wing and putting on hard tyres, presumably to test the compound out for teammate Alonso. Replays the next lap showed that Felipe’s previous front wing – the controversial one – was shown shaking and crashing into the ground on the straight, prompting the stop.

Onboard with Massa as he gets too friendly with a vicious kerb

Just when his race couldn’t get any worse, it did. Massa ran over a kerb in similar fashion to his incident in qualifying, again smashing the suspension and taking the Ferrari out of the race.

After being caught by Fernando Alonso, heavy rear tyre wear prompted Webber to stop for the harder tyre with 22 laps to go. Decent pace for the Red Bull made the decision for Ferrari, as Fernando pitted and emerged ahead of Mark.

Vettel takes another dominative victory

Button pitted on Lap 47, with Sebastian pitting a lap later, the gap between the two staying constant at 3 seconds. Further back, Michael Schumacher was being caught by Nico Rosberg in the battle for 5th and 6th. Bruno Senna pitted on Lap 58 for his mandatory set of primes, dropping out of the points to 12th.

Unfortunately, the Mercedes battle failed to materialise. At the same time, Sebastian Vettel crossed the finish line in the lead for the 11th time this year, taking the fastest lap along the way. Button’s challenge never came to fruition, and finished a lonely 2nd, with Fernando Alonso holding off Mark Webber for 3rd. Lewis Hamilton was 7th, Jaime Alguersuari an impressive 8th, with Sutil and Perex finishing off the top 10.

Sebastian Vettel will start on pole position for the 13th time this season, as Q3 was disrupted by a crash from Felipe Massa.

The Ferrari hit a kerb on his final lap, breaking the suspension and sending Massa into the barriers. This prevented several drivers from setting their fastest lap time, allowing Vettel to easily take pole.

Mark Webber will start second, despite qualifying 3rd, as Lewis Hamilton has been docked 3 places after disobeying yellow flags in qualifying. Fernando Alonso will start 3rd. Here is the full report:

Q1

The two Lotus cars led the field out for the first qualifying session in India. The Renault drivers set the pace in the early few minutes, while the frontrunners stayed in the pits.

Fernando Alonso soon set a 1:27.4 on the harder tyre, while teammate Massa was shown running onto the grass, and was swiftly followed by Rubens Barrichello.

Sebastian Vettel moved into the 1:26 range, with Lewis Hamilton 2nd. Timo Glock dropped out of the session, having suffered a gearbox failure, and not set a time within the 107% rule.

The Saubers emerged from the pits with 7 minutes to go on the option tyre. Sergio Perez went 8th, with Kamui Kobayashi 11th. Bruno Senna was dangerously held up by Jaime Alguersuari exiting the pits at Turn 1, gesticulating angrily.

Amazingly, Jenson Button felt the need to take on soft tyres at the end of Q1, and to make matters worse, the McLaren emerged behind backmarkers. However, Button moved his way past to take 3rd place. Michael Schumacher was forced to slice past a HRT to move out of the drop zone, again on the soft tyres.

After abandoning his last lap, Kobayashi was the main driver taken out of Q1.

Drivers knocked out in Q1:

18) Kamui Kobayashi – 1:27.876

19) Heikki Kovalainen – 1:28.656

20) Jarno Trulli – 1:28.752

21) Daniel Ricciardo – 1:30.216

22) Narain Karthikeyan – 1:30.238

23) Jerome D’Ambrosio – 1:30.866

Outside 107% rule:

24) Timo Glock – 1:34.046

Q2

With a difference of 2 seconds between the option and prime, soft tyres were the norm for Q2.

Sebastian Vettel took a 1:24.657 to take 1st, with Hamilton and Webber behind. Both Toro Rossos moved into the top 10, while Button again struggled with his tyres, being forced to use 2 sets of the option tyre.

Adrian Sutil pushed Michael Schumacher out of the top 10 in the dying few minutes, while Paul di Resta took 12th. Schumacher improved, but was 0.012 seconds slower than 10th-placed Alguersuari.

Jaime was 0.000 seconds faster than 11th-placed Vitaly Petrov, but the Toro Rosso driver set his lap time first.

Drivers knocked out in Q2:

11) Vitaly Petrov – 1:26.319

12) Michael Schumacher – 1:26.337

13) Paul di Resta – 1:26.503

14) Pastor Maldonado – 1:2.537

15) Bruno Senna – 1:26.651

16) Rubens Barrichello – 1:27.247

17) Sergio Perez – 1:27.562

Q3

Lewis Hamilton – who will be dropped 3 places on the grid after an incident in practice – was first out. The McLaren driver only set a 1:26.4, and was swiftly beaten by the Ferraris.

Vettel soon went fastest on a 1:24.4, which was matched by Hamilton. Interestingly, the Pirelli soft tyres seemed to be faster on their second and third laps, so the frontrunners stayed out longer than expected.

Webber was 0.071 seconds off Vettel’s time, as all 10 drivers exited the pits, the first time in quite a while.

With 2 minutes to go, Jenson Button was still massively off the pace, 3 seconds slower in the first sector alone. Sebastian Vettel increased his lead at the front, while Lewis Hamilton abandoned his final run.

However, many drivers’ final laps were ruined by a crash from Felipe Massa. The Ferrari hit the inside of a kerb, ripping off the front suspension and sending Felipe into the barriers.

Lewis Hamilton headed the first ever official practice session for the Indian Grand Prix – but suffered a grid penalty in the process.

Hamilton set a flying lap at the very end of the session, putting him half a second ahead of anyone else, but sped through Turn 16 under double-waved yellows, resulting in a penalty from the stewards.

Lewis will be dropped 3 places on the grid, with Sergio Perez receiving the same penalty for the same action.

The red flag was out within minutes of the session beginning, as a stray dog wandered onto the track. Once the session restarted, Karun Chandhok (who will only participate in Practice 1) and Narain Karthikeyan led proceedings.

Pastor Maldonado's stray Williams soon caught out Hamilton and Perez

Fernando Alonso was out of the session early, with the Ferrari losing power. Felipe Massa was handed the Spaniard’s new front wing, which has since caused controversy, as it has been seen vibrating and showering sparks through Turn 4.

Pastor Maldonado pulled over near the end of the session, causing double-waved yellows, which consequently caused Hamilton and Perez’s penalties.

The Red Bulls were 2nd and 3rd, over half a second behind Hamilton. Jenson Button was a further second behind Vettel and Webber, with Michael Schumacher 5th.

Indian drivers Chandhok and Karthikeyan were 19th and 22nd in their respective Lotus and HRT cars.

Vitantonio Liuzzi has surrendered his HRT race seat to Narain Karthikeyan for the Indian Grand Prix later this month.

The Indian driver most recently drove an F1 car in Friday practice in Singapore. While this of course is a move to generate further interest in the country’s first ever Grand Prix, Karthikeyan’s sponsors are also believed to be paying the team for this one-off drive.

After being replaced by Daniel Ricciardo halfway through the 2011 season, Narain has stated that he is looking forward to being back in the racing seat:

"Driving in front of the home crowd cheering on is going to be a surreal
experience. [It's] a once in a lifetime experience and I feel extremely
fortunate.
There is a huge buzz around the Grand Prix already and I’m sure that it’ll be
a resounding success that will motivate more youngsters towards the sport and
give us the future F1 drivers. Making it into F1 at the time I did was a
seriously uphill task and the thought of being able to compete in the inaugural
Indian Grand Prix was non-existent.
But it is finally here and I’ll be on the grid. It is going to be one of the most
challenging circuits on the calendar. There are points at which, if you’re in an
F1 car, you will see nothing but the sky.
The layout itself is going to put tremendous energy through the tyres and the
strategy will play a key role in the final result. For sure I’ll race hard and
try to get a good result for myself and the team. I would like to express my
gratitude towards Tata Group and the rest of sponsors for their continued support
and belief throughout my career."

Sebastian Vettel continued his assault on the all-time F1 record list, with his 10th victory of the year yesterday in Korea. Also from this weekend:

Vettel’s 20th career win puts him level with Mika Hakkinen. He has now won 25.64% of the races he has entered – a higher stat than Ayrton Senna (25.31%).

While Sebastian may equal Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a single season, he will still rank behind his fellow German on this one, as Michael’s 13 wins came in an 18-race season, one less than the Red Bull driver.

If he clocks another 44 laps in the lead, Sebastian will also break the record for most laps led in a season. He is currently on 651 laps. The current record holder is Nigel Mansell, set in the 1992 season.

Red Bull had their 16-race pole position streak broken this weekend, though it is still 3rd on the all-time list. The last driver to beat a Red Bull to pole was Nico Hulkenberg in Brazil 2010.

McLaren’s 700th race was marked with their 147th pole position, and their 376th podium finish – a remarkable 53.7% rate.

Lewis Hamilton took his first pole position since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix. It was the 19th of his career, one less than Damon Hill and Fernando Alonso.

Toro Rosso scored their best team result since Australia 2009, with Jaime Alguersuari 7th and Sebastien Buemi 9th.

Vettel has also had his 5-race streak of pole positions broken – for the second time this year!

Vitaly Petrov will be docked 5 places on the grid for the Indian Grand Prix later this month, after today’s collision with Michael Schumacher.

Petrov was racing Fernando Alonso for position entering Turn 3, when both cars out-braked themselves and slid off the track. Alonso took to the run-off area, while Petrov launched into an innocent Schumacher, taking both cars out of the race.

Vitaly accepted the blame soon after the race:

"It was not his fault, it was absolutely my fault – once my wheels were locked
there was nothing I could do about it. But that’s racing and tomorrow is another
day.
I tried to defend my position from Fernando but I was in the braking zone on the
dirty side of the track which meant I locked my wheels and hit Michael.
I was focused on my battle with Fernando as there was potential for me to be
ahead of him. We both braked too late as he missed the corner too."